Tesla's Drag Strip Mode: A Closer Look at the Groundbreaking Acceleration

Tesla's Drag Strip Mode for the Model S and Model X Plaid

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Tesla has once again showcased its cutting-edge technology with a new video on its YouTube channel (below) featuring the impressive Drag Strip Mode. Of course, it's been around for a few years. Still, the video is a reminder of just how fast the car is launched and a testament to Tesla's technology.

Drag Strip Mode: A Brief Overview

The refreshed Model S and Model X in 2021 introduced the Drag Strip Mode, allowing drivers to experience breathtaking acceleration in a controlled environment.

Drag Strip Mode is designed to precondition the battery and drive unit for optimal performance during timed acceleration. The feature remains active for three hours, after which it times out to save energy. During this mode, the vehicle consumes more energy to maintain the battery at the ideal temperature range.

The Science Behind the Speed

Chris, a Tesla Performance Engineer, explains the mechanics behind the Drag Strip Mode. The cooling fans chill the drive units, as they generate the most power when they are at their coolest. The battery pack is also warmed up slightly to optimize its performance range.

Enabling Drag Strip Mode

The touchscreen in the Model S provides visual instructions on how to launch the vehicle using Drag Strip Mode. The steps are as follows: Touch Controls > Pedals & Steering > Drag Strip Mode.

Wait for the instrument panel to indicate that the vehicle is Peak Performance Ready.

Starting Cheetah Stance

With Model S shifted into Drive and at a complete stop, firmly hold the brake pedal with your left foot, then fully press the accelerator pedal. This begins to put the car into "cheetah stance."

The car enters launch mode, and the front lowers toward the ground, improving front axle traction. Instead of the front of the car lifting and losing traction off the front wheels, the "cheetah stance" holds the front of the car down, providing better grip throughout the zero to 60 acceleration.

Launching

After putting the vehicle into its "cheetah stance," continue to hold the brake pedal and wait for the instrument cluster to display "Cheetah Stance Enabled" and "Ready to launch."

Once ready, simply release the brake pedal to launch the vehicle.

It is important to note that Drag Strip Mode is intended for use on closed-circuit driving courses only, and drivers should ensure their driving style does not endanger or inconvenience others. "Cheetah stance" will also significantly reduce ground clearance.

Tesla's Drag Strip Mode is a testament to the company's continuous innovation and commitment to pushing the boundaries of electric vehicle performance. With this mode, Tesla owners can experience exhilarating acceleration in a controlled environment, all while showcasing the true capabilities of their Model S or Model X.

You Can Now Track Tesla’s Robotaxi Deployment

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Thanks to Tesla Yoda on X, we have found out that Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet is registered on the Texas Department of Transportation’s public-facing Automated Vehicle Deployment website. This makes the fleet’s movements publicly viewable and trackable, and marks a first for Tesla.

This isn’t just any old FSD test - this is the first officially acknowledged, government-tracked, and sanctioned deployment of a Tesla Model Y operating as a ride-share vehicle. But that’s not all - Texas DOT’s tracker notes that the Tesla does not have a safety driver.

View on the Map

Visitors to the Texas DOT website can filter for “Tesla”, and see, currently, a single active vehicle operating in the Austin Metro area. According to the state’s official data, here’s what we know:

Company: Tesla

Description: Ride-share service

Status in Texas: Testing

Safety Driver: No

The final point is definitely the most significant here. While Tesla has been testing FSD with safety drivers for some time in Austin and LA for employee-only testing, this is the first time that a vehicle has been officially registered and deployed on public roads without a human behind the wheel for safety. 

The fact that there is no safety driver officially shifts the liability from the occupant of the driver’s seat to Tesla, for the first time in a public setting. That’s already pretty significant - we previously dove into how Tesla plans to insure its own vehicles, and potentially owner vehicles in the Robotaxi fleets. 

The status currently lists Tesla as “Testing,” confirming that the service isn’t available to the public, but this is expected to change in the coming weeks.

This testing phase is likely part of a short but crucial period that lets Tesla capture data on the safety levels of its current iteration of Unsupervised FSD without a driver supervising. Tesla already stated that they’d be avoiding difficult areas, so this testing can also expose additional areas Tesla may want to avoid, such as school zones or blind driveways.

Tesla will need to prove, both internally and externally, that FSD Unsupervised has the necessary performance to safely navigate the streets without any incidents.

Regulatory Milestone

For years, the concept of a Tesla Robotaxi has been a future promise. Now, it's a present-day reality, albeit in a testing capacity.

Having an official government body list a Tesla as an active, driverless vehicle shows that they’ve been able to clear regulatory hurdles, which Tesla has often pointed to as the issue. It demonstrates a level of confidence from both Tesla and Texas regulators in the system's capabilities.

While it's just a single vehicle for today, we’ll likely see this list slowly expand over time. Alongside being able to track Robotaxi incidents at the City of Austin’s website, we’ll be able to closely watch Tesla’s progress with its first Robotaxi deployments.

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Tesla FSD in Europe: June Update

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The road to bringing FSD to Europe has been a long and complex one and filled with regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles. Elon Musk, as well as other members of Tesla’s AI team, have previously voiced their grievances with the regulatory approval process on X.

However, it appears that there is finally some progress in getting things moving with recent changes to upcoming autonomy regulations, but the process still seems slow.

Waiting on the Dutch

Elon commented on X recently, stating that Tesla is waiting for approval from Dutch authorities and then the EU to start rolling out FSD in Europe. Tesla is focusing on acquiring approvals from the Dutch transportation authority, which will provide them with the platform they need to gain broader acceptance in Europe. Outside of the Netherlands, Tesla is also conducting testing in Norway, which provides a couple of avenues for them to obtain national-level approval.

The frustration has been ongoing, with multiple committee meetings bringing up autonomy regulation but always pulling back at the last second before approving anything. The last meeting on Regulation 157, which governs Automated Lane Keeping Systems, concluded with authorities from the UK and Spain requesting additional time to analyze the data before reaching a conclusion.

Tesla, as well as Elon, have motioned several times for owners to reach out to their elected representatives to move the process forward, as it seems that Tesla’s own efforts are being stymied. 

This can seem odd, especially since Tesla has previously demoed FSD working exceptionally smoothly on European roads - and just did it again in Rome when they shared the video below on X.

FSD Supervised testing in Rome, Italy

Pending regulatory approval pic.twitter.com/TXh3uQIfrx

— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) June 12, 2025

DCAS Phase 3

While the approval process has been slow, Kees Roelandschap pointed out that there may be a different regulatory step that could allow FSD to gain a foothold in Europe.

According to Kees, the European Commission is now taking a new approach to approving ADAS systems under the new DCAS Phase 3 regulations. The Commission is now seeking data from systems currently operational in the United States that can perform System-Initiated Maneuvers and don’t require hands-on intervention for every request.

This is key because those are two of the core functionalities that make FSD so usable, and it also means that there may not be a need to wait years for proper regulations to be written from scratch. Now, the Commission will be looking at real-world data based on existing, deployed technology, which could speed up the process immensely.

What This Means

This new, data-driven regulatory approach could be the path for Tesla to reach its previous target of September for European FSD. While the cogs of bureaucracy are ever slow, sometimes all it takes is a little data to have them turn a bit faster in this case.

Alongside specific countries granting approval for limited field testing with employees, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for FSD in Europe, and hopes are that a release will occur by the end of 2025. With Europe now looking to North America for how FSD is performing, Tesla’s Robotaxi results could also play a role.

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